


The Awkward Teen's Guide to Love and Marine life

by wrunic



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Like, Lots of aquatic mythical creatures, Mermaid Michael, Multi, Plot, Really evil, mermaid au, the squip is really evil, the squip isn't a computer but it's there
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-10
Updated: 2018-06-08
Packaged: 2018-11-30 12:09:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11463306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wrunic/pseuds/wrunic
Summary: Jeremy is sent off to live with his eccentric not-really-aunt for the summer, and isn't expecting it to be very exciting. But then he meets Michael, and ends up getting way more excitement than he bargained for.Well would ya look at that, another mermaid AU





	1. Dad why

**Author's Note:**

> I know. I know there are other mermaid AU's. I know there are some that are better than mine. And I don't care. I got the idea at midnight and it wasn't going to leave me alone until I wrote it so here we go. I swear I have a plan, even if I don't know the exact number of chapters. Enjoy!

When Jeremy's dad had first suggested going away for summer, Jeremy had been thrilled. A chance to escape the hellhole that was suburban New Jersey and spend some quality time with his dad? A dream come true! That dream fell apart quickly however, because it turned out that his dad was staying home. Meanwhile, Jeremy was being carted off to Hillier, Vermont, otherwise known as the middle of goddamn nowhere, where he was to live with some weird friend of his dad's for the entire summer. Yay.

He stewed in self pity the entire bus ride (his dad wouldn't even drive him) there, and was finally starting to accept his fate, when he discovered that the entire fucking universe was against him, because after asking around, he found out that the “aunt” he was supposed to live with did not, in fact, live in the town, but a little ways up the nearest mountain. Jeremy, by that point, was ready to give up and die right where he was, but luckily a local guy around his age offered to drive him up. He didn't catch the guy's name, but Jeremy figured it would be pretty easy to find him again, with the distinctive red stripe in h's hair, and the fact that the village had maximum thirty people living in it.  
After thanking red stripe dude and getting his bags out of the car, Jeremy stepped up to the door of the house and knocked. There was silence for a few seconds, then a loud crash behind the door and a string of what sounded like Shakespearean curses, if his recollection of English class was to be trusted, followed by the door swinging open, revealing a petite, twenty-something Asian woman, holding her foot and smiling a little confusedly at him.

“Hello. May I ask what this is about?”

Jeremy had assumed, reasonably, or so he thought, that she would know he was coming, but with his dad's organization track record, he wasn't all that shocked.

“Oh, uh, I'm Jeremy. Jeremy Heere?”

Her eyes widened, and she half ran, half hopped back into the house. Another creative curse echoed through the hall, and the woman reappeared, a little breathless.

“I'm so sorry, I totally forgot you were coming today.” Her eyes widened again as a thought struck her. “Oh my god, you didn't have to walk did you?” 

“No, someone gave me a ride.”

She nodded absently, running a hand through her hair. She held still for around ten seconds, then jumped up, clapping her hands together and startling Jeremy. 

“God, I'm all over the place today! Come in, I'll help with your luggage.” 

She grabbed one of his bags and pulled it inside, gesturing for Jeremy to follow. He did, picking up his second bag and stepped inside, following her through a living room and into what he assumed was his room.

“There's an adjoining bathroom, but there's another one down the hall if you need to shower…” Jeremy half listened as she explained where everything was in the house. He turned back in as she clapped her hands again and exclaimed:

“Oh! I need to show you around outside!”

She skipped out of the room, leading through a screen door and outside. She started showing him around, taking him down a stone path to a set of wooden stairs imbedded in the hillside. She showed him a garden, the dock, even pointing out different spots on the lake, but she seemed to be ignoring the shed-like building in the middle of the dock.

“What's this?” Jeremy asked, tapping the wall of the building.

“Oh.” Christine (she'd finally given her name, totally accidentally, which was probably a good thing, because Jeremy would have gone the whole summer without asking) said, pausing for a few seconds before regaining her bubbly demeanor. “That's just the boat house, but I don't have a boat so it's just storage.” she shrugged. “You can go in if you want, but there's nothing exciting.”

Jeremy nodded, deciding to check it out later. They went back up to the house, and Christine said he could go unpack. He did just that, re-emerging to find Christine on the living room couch, reading a monstrous book entitled “The Complete Works of Shakespeare”. That would explain the swears. He was about to announce his presence, but she seemed to have noticed him already, because almost as soon as he came out she slammed the book shut and vaulted over the back of the couch, landing in front of him with a huge grin in her face. 

“I need to run some errands in the village, do you want to come?”

Jeremy took a subtle step back, and said slowly: “Sure.”

“Great!” She ran off towards the front door, grabbing her keys on the way out. Jeremy waited a few seconds before following, wondering why the hell his dad had left him in the care of an overexcited puppy all summer.  
***

During the drive down the mountain, Jeremy learned a lot about Christine. She was twenty three years old, she wanted to be on Broadway but hated the city so she was living up here until she got a job. She wasn't actually related to Jeremy, but she owed his dad for making a set for her at some point, so she had offered to take Jeremy in for the summer. She also talked a lot (clearly) and was passionate about everything. In short, she was awesome. Jeremy wasn't sure if he would have trusted her with his kid, but he certainly wasn't complaining. It was nice to have a friend, even if she was technically his glorified babysitter.  
When they finally reached the village, Christine parked in front of the grocery store and rifled through her pockets for a few seconds, finally producing $5.78 in small change, and sending him off to explore the village. There was exactly one non-residential street, which contained several specialty stores, the grocer’s, and a 7/11. Jeremy beelined for the 7/11, deciding Cheetos were essential to his survival throughout this trip. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts, mostly wondering what he was going to do with his summer, that he didn't notice the person heelying towards him until it was too late. Jeremy didn't know it yet, but the boy who had just crashed into him was in fact the answer to the question he'd been asking himself. There was an impact, a distressed cry of “MY SLUSHIE!”, and a boy in a red sweater lying on top of him. Jeremy barely had time to process what had just happened before red sweater guy had scrambled off of him and was kneeling beside the fallen Slushie, looking as though he was about to cry. Jeremy walked cautiously to the other guy's side.

“Hey man, I'm sorry. I'll buy you another one.”

The guy looked up at Jeremy like he'd just offered to buy him the moon. And Jeremy probably would buy his guy the moon, if it meant getting that look again. The boy was the kind of attractive that you didn't notice at first, since it was buried under an oversized sweater, sweatpants, and too big glasses. But he was attractive, good god he was. 

“Really?” Red Sweater said, snapping Jeremy out of his slightly creepy reverie, and reminding him that normal people don't usually stare intently at strangers. He stammered out a semi-coherent answer.

“Y-yeah, of course, it was my fault.” 

The guy leapt to his, feet and extended a hand to Jeremy, grinning. 

“Michael Mell, pleased to make your acquaintance.”

Jeremy took his hand and shook it, trying to ignore the annoying gay part of his brain that was screaming “PHYSICAL CONTACT!!!!!” while banging pots and pans together. 

“Jeremy Heere, likewise.”

Michael's grin widened and, without releasing Jeremy's hand, led him into the 7/11, extolling the virtues of the rainbow Slushie the whole way. Jeremy, as promised, paid for Michael’s Slushie, and ended up spending all his money on it, but since it kept Michael talking to him, he couldn't care less. They ended up on a bench outside the grocer's, talking about everything. It turned out they had a lot in common, almost everything, in fact, except:

“YOU'VE NEVER PLAYED A VIDEOGAME?” Jeremy exclaimed, putting a hand over his heart and leaning away.fr Michael. For the first time in the conversation, the boy in the red sweater looked embarrassed. 

“I never got the chance! Electronics aren't exactly common up here.”

“Well you're learning this summer.” Jeremy said with a conviction he didn't know he possessed. Jeremy then addressed another part of Michael’s sentence. “You live up here?” He was disappointed that the guy who was rapidly becoming his favourite person lived so far from New Jersey. Then again, who would willingly visit this place? It wasn't exactly paradise.

“Yeah.” Michael answered, eyes distant. “I'm not from here though. My parents claim it's temporary but...” he trailed off, an almost mournful look spreading over his face. He shook his head, snapping himself back to reality. “So I'm guessing since I've never seen you before, you don't?” 

It took Jeremy a second to respond, because he'd gotten a little distracted by Michael's eyes, which were mostly dark brown, but they had little flecks of gold and they were looking at him now. Jeremy quickly turned his gaze to the ground.

“N-no, I don't. I'm staying with my “aunt” for the summer.” He put quotations around aunt because to be honest he wasn't sure what to call Christine. At that moment, Jeremy noticed Christine, walking in their direction. 

“Speak of the devil.” Jeremy said, even though Christine was anything but, “That's her.” He pointed at Christine. Michael did a little double take when he saw her, but covered it by taking a sip of his Slushie. Christine was also shocked, but much better at hiding it.

“Who's this?” She asked, offering a friendly smile, trying to distract Jeremy before he noticed their mutual surprise. Jeremy, who.may or may not have been staring at Michael again, scrambled to respond.

“This is Michael. I ran into him outside of the 7/11.”

“Literally.” Michael mumbled, faking bitterness, but really trying hard not to laugh.  
This led to a round of good natured bickering about who's fault the crash was. Michael abruptly stopped talking, staring at the sunset with something like fear in his eyes. 

“What time is it?” 

“7:33.” Christine answered, after checking her phone clock.

“Shit!” Michael shot to his feet, abandoning the remains of his Slushie on the bench. “I've gotta head home, bye!”

“Wait-” Jeremy started, but Michael was already gone. His heart sank a little, a part of him afraid that he'd never see Michael again. Christine noticed his crushed expression and sat next to him.

“Hey, I'm sure you'll see him again. There are like four teens here, he won't be hard to find.” She gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze, then stood up and lead Jeremy over to the car. After they were both in and Christine had given him a speech about how “driving up a mountain is very dangerous and if you don't wear a seat belt you could die and your dad would've so mad at me if you died…” they finally started back toward the house. They sat in silence for the first three minutes of the five minute drive. It was, of course, Christine who broke the silence, with a conspiratorial:

“So...Michael, huh?” accompanied by a raised eyebrow and a small smile. 

“Wh- h- he's just my friend, and we met, like, an hour ago.”

That probably would have been more convincing if he hadn't been a flustered stammering mess.

“If ya say so!” Christine said in a sing song voice, clearly not believing a word he said. she turned the car into the gravel driveway, while Jeremy stared out the window, waiting for his blush to die down. He could have sworn that he saw a flash of red amongst the trees, but when he looked at it directly, it vanished. He sighed and rubbed his eyes. Maybe Christine was right.


	2. Rich why

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael's first encounter with Jeremy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh look, I finally wrote it. I'd promise faster updates, but I'd probably be lying. But I will try harder.

Michael was not expecting to have a good day. Or, not a day that was any different from every other day in this godforsaken place.

It had started out normal enough. Well, normal for him anyway. If most people had started their day out the way Michael had, it would not be a good day for them. He woke up under a dock, with his tail half buried in the sand of the lake bottom. He was in a relatively good mood, because he got to go to the surface today. He did get to go pretty much every day, but it never failed to get him excited. He would be accompanied, as always, by Jake and, if her skin was cooperating today, Jenna. He freed himself from the sand and swam groggily to their “common area” (an arrangement of relatively large rocks), where the rest of the gang was already gathered

“Morning sleepyhead!” Brooke called out, at the same time as Chloe grumbling, “Look, the jackass is awake.”

Michael sighed and chose to ignore Chloe. “Good morning Brooke.” she gave a cheery wave while Chloe glared at him.

He sat on one of the rocks, trying not to seem too excited, for Brooke and Chloe’s sake. They weren’t allowed up top, (Technically, none of them were, but boredom can do terrible things to a person. Or merperson. Or water sprite) but Brooke actually, physically could not leave, not without both her and the lake dying. And Chloe wouldn’t leave Brooke alone if it meant bringing about the apocalypse. So only Jake, Michael and Jenna went to the surface. It was better than a drug fix, getting out of the lake and getting to live without having to worry that someone might see them, and to actually be able to do stuff and talk to people who weren’t the same people you’ve been trapped in a lake with for three years. Michael wished he could live like that all the time. He was shaken from his reverie by Jake tapping him on the forehead.

“Since someone slept so late, we’ve gotta get moving now, or there won’t be any daylight left.”

Michael wanted to protest that he hadn’t actually slept that late, but if it got him to the surface faster, he could take accusations of laziness. The trio took off soon after, staying close to the lake bed so Jenna could walk.  
They soon arrived at the lake house, since it was all of 40 yards from where they had been. Michael’s head broke the surface first, and he took a deep breath of fresh, land air. The inside of the boathouse looked the same as it always did, the square of water surrounded on three sides by the dock and rough wooden walls, cardboard boxes covering every available surface. Jake and Jenna appeared soon after. Jenna, as per usual, got out first, since, her “humanization” required the least change out of the three of them.  
Once she was completely out of the water and sitting on the dock, her normally blue-green skin turned paper white, then slowly filled with more colour, until she looked, well, human. She then shooed the boys under so she could change into some less conspicuous clothing. ( Long flowy dresses that changed colour and always seemed to be rippling in a current attracted a lot of attention, for some reason. ) Jake and Michael played a few half hearted rounds of rock, paper, scissors, until several splashes at the surface summoned them up.  
Since Jake was faster, he made it to the dock first, leaving Michael to mope around under water for a while longer, while Jenna waited outside. Jake took longer than Jenna to get ready, partly because his transformation was more complicated, and partly because he had a boyfriend to impress.  
Rich (the aforementioned boyfriend) and Christine, (the proprietor of the boathouse) were the only two people who knew about the “lake folk”. Rich had found out shortly after he and Jake started dating, because it had been decided that it was easier for everyone. Christine had found out because Jenna had gotten into a fight with a poisonous catfish, ( Very, very, long story.) and Christine had found her and patched her up. Because Jenna had been blue at the time, they really had no choice but to explain what was going on. After that, she offered them the unused boat house as storage for their human stuff, and the rest is history.  
Michael wasn’t bitter (he was totally bitter) that four out of the six people he knew were dating, and one was aromantic, and he was alone, but he often found himself wishing that he could have what Rich and Jake or even Chloe and Brooke, had. Someone who understood them and took them as they were, someone who loved them. A loud splash at the surface yanked him out of his head. He emerged from the water and pulled himself onto the dock, a maneuver way less graceful than the movies would have you believe. His torso flopped onto the wood, and he shimmied forward, sitting up and lifting his tail up, until it landed beside him with a wet smack, earning a round of sarcastic applause from Jake and Jenna.

“Oh fuck off.” 

They did, both grinning, leaving Michael alone to grow a pair. Of legs, specifically. It only took a few seconds, given that he did this almost daily, but he’d never quite gotten over how cool it was. He concentrated, and watched as the tip of his tail split, and a tingling spread slowly up his body as his scales retracted into his skin. Finally, the last few scales on his stomach vanished, and the tingling made it’s way into his mouth, and he felt his fangs shrink into normal canines. The last transformed area was his least favourite, the tingle moved into his eyes, switching them into a more human dark brown. Once all was over, he stood up, a little unsteadily, and walked over to a box labeled, creatively, “Gardening Stuff”, which in actuality contained his clothes. He pulled on a shirt, some shorts, and his red sweater, almost forgetting shoes, but remembering at the last second, then stepping outside, only to be abruptly yanked sideways into a neighboring hedge. He whipped his head angrily towards Jake. 

“Dude what the fu-”

Jenna clapped her hand over Michael’s mouth, and put a shushing finger over her lips. 

“Christine’s got a guest.” she whispered, pointing up at the stairs. Michael couldn’t see very well through the bushes, but the guest seemed to be a teen guy. He started to poke his head out to get a closer look, but he was pulled back by both of the others, almost knocking him over.  
“Okay, okay, geez.” he mumbled, rubbing his shoulders. “Let’s just go.”

They had to take a different route than usual, straight through the woods rather than following the road, which would actually probably have been faster, except that they got lost twice along the way. Both times, Jake made a pun about ‘not being out of the woods yet!” and Jenna hit him. Once they actually made it out of the woods, they all went straight for the 7/11, because:

It was the only semi-interesting place in the town  
It was where Jake was meeting Rich, and making him late would go badly for everyone involved.  
Also, after dealing with that army of mosquitoes in the forest, Michael felt he deserved a Slushie. 

Once Michael had purchased his “rainbow ice water”, (as Jake called them) he heelied outside, where Rich was now basically attached to Jake, which was their natural state when they were together. Jenna was off to the side talking to Gloria, Jenna’s main source of town gossip. Everyone had their own ways of coping with small town boredom, he supposed. Not really in the mood for talking about how the Kropp’s were stealing zucchinis again, Michael opted for going to talk to the lovebirds. They chatted and exchanged mostly good natured insults, until Michael suddenly stopped talking. Rich and Jake turned their heads to where Michael was staring. Oh, a new guy. They turned back, sporting matching smirks. Michael looked at each of them, a pool of dread forming in his stomach. He did not like that look.

“Uh guys? You’re scaring me.” 

Suddenly, Rich was behind him and giving him a decisive shove in the direction of New Guy. Now, under normal circumstances, the shove would have sent someone face first into the ground, but because Michael was a heelie-clad dork, the push instead got the wheels of his shoes spinning, and sent him speeding uncontrollably towards the unsuspecting teen, too shocked by Rich’s betrayal to even cry out a warning.  
Michael crashed right into him, and watched in horror as his Slushie went flying out of his grip and exploded on the sidewalk. He landed on top of the other boy, who he decided to call Blue Cardigan until further notice, half glad for the distraction that was the tragic death of his drink, because boy was he not mentally prepared for that much physical contact with Blue Cardigan yet. Michael scrambled to his feet and knelt beside the broken carcass of his Slushie. He shot a glare at Rich, who grinned and gave him a thumbs up. He heard Blue Cardigan walk up behind him. 

“Hey man, I’ll buy you a new one.”

Michael turned to face the other boy, who was just as cute up close. And he’d just offered to buy Michael a Slushie, the quickest way to his heart. Damn you Rich.

***  
Michael was doing amazingly well, if he said so himself, given that he’d talked to around ten people in his entire life. Jeremy seemed to like him ( which gave him a warm kind of fluttery feeling in his stomach that he was not going to explore right now), and they were getting along great, but the entire conversation seemed to be a reminder of the giant, scaly secret hanging over him. Videogames? Not exactly the best underwater activity. Living up here? Memories he’d rather not think about.  
He felt his mood darkening as the realization that he’d never get a normal life slowly started to sink in. He made an effort to keep his focus on Jeremy, his conversation with Jeremy. He really was enjoying talking to Jeremy, but a part of Michael’s brain was engaged in figuring out how to keep Jeremy talking to him long-term.  
The incident of discovery, despite being on purpose, had almost broken up Rich and Jake, quite possibly the strongest couple Michael knew. Discovering your boyfriend is a shark (or any aquatic creature for that matter) from the waist down is kind of a jarring thing, so he could understand that it may cause some issues, but he didn’t want that to happen to him and Jeremy. Not that they were dating. Well, he wouldn’t mind if they were, but god that is so not what he should be focusing on right now. He could keep it a secret. Just avoid the lake and-

“Speak of the devil, there she is!” Jeremy’s voice snapped Michael out of his thoughts, and he looked up from his Slushie to find himself face to face with none other than Christine Canigula. Well, this was going to be problematic. Christine’s eyes widened momentarily when she saw Michael, but quickly plastered on a fake smile to hide her surprise. 

“Who’s this?” she asked, in reference to Michael, despite knowing all too well who he is.

“This is Michael.” Is he blushing? No, of course not, why would he be blushing, stop it Michael. “I ran into him outside of the 7/11”

“Literally.” Michael grumbled, still not quite over the loss of his first Slushie. 

The pair argued for a few seconds about who to blame for the crash. Michael knew that the blame lay squarely on rich, but Jeremy didn't have to know that. Michael’s gaze was drawn to the sky, since the sun was shining directly in his face. Wait, with their current angle, that meant the sun was setting. Shit.

“What time is it?” he asked, interrupting Jeremy.

“7:33.” Christine answered, doing a good job of disguising the ‘Michael you need to go now” in her voice from Jeremy. 

“Shit!” Michael immediately leaped to his feet, realizing he was already past his unofficial/official 7 pm curfew, and he still had to make it to the lake. 

“I’ve gotta get home, bye!” he took off running in the direction of the woods, following the road that led to Christine’s house through the trees.He only fully processed the fact that he’d run off on the cutest, sweetest guy he’d ever met without so much as a way to contact him once he was halfway up the mountain, and by then it was too late to do anything about it.He kept running, keeping himself entertained by imagining Rich spontaneously combusting. He had almost made it when he heard a car pass and had to dive into a nearby bush to hide. He stayed there until Jeremy and Christine’s voices faded into silence, the buried his face in his hands and muttered, to no one in particular:

“I am so utterly fucked.”


	3. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA WHY AM I LIKE THIS

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a filler chapter to develop relationships and I kinda hate it but it took me forever to write and I haven't updated in weeks, so I couldn't not post it y'know? So I hope you enjoy it anyway, please forgive my really slow updates. 
> 
> I promise the next chapter will actually contribute to the advancement of the plot please just bear with me.

Jeremy couldn't sleep. Maybe it was the sudden onslaught of gay thoughts this trip had brought. Maybe it was the worrying about how he was going to find Michael again, or the worrying about whether or not Michael even wanted Jeremy to find him again. He kept replaying their interactions in his mind, trying to figure if or when he'd messed something up. He kept cycling through the various stages of panic, until at around three am, when his brain finally gave up and he fell asleep.

He woke up at around seven, still in school time, and stumbled out of bed and blearily made his way to the kitchen. There, he found Christine, sitting on the table with a.mug in her hands, looking out the window with a soft smile on her face. She looked so peaceful that he almost went back to bed so as not to disturb her. Christine, however, seemed to have super hearing,and had already turned her head to look at him. She beckoned him over, indicating that he should keep quiet.  
Confused but intrigued, Jeremy made his way over to the table and sat next to her. She pointed out the window, and he followed the trail of her finger, to where a deer was grazing in the unkempt field that was Christine's “garden". They stayed like that for almost half an hour, just watching the deer together, until it got spooked by something down the hill and took off into the woods. It was a deceptively peaceful start to what was going to be one of the most hectic days of Jeremy's life. 

***

Once the deer left, Jeremy and Christine emerged from the sort of trance they’d been in,and Christine realized she hadn’t made breakfast. She grabbed some cereal and poured them both a bowl. They sat together in comfortable silence, both trying to maintain the peace of the moment. And they did a good job of it, until Jeremy asked if there was any coffee. 

“No, sorry! Can’t drink the stuff, makes me hyper.”

Upon further reflection, Jeremy decided it was probably a good thing that Christine didn’t drink coffee, because if she was this energetic without coffee in her system, a caffeinated Christine would probably be classified as a natural disaster. 

“Can I go down and buy some?” Jeremy asked. He wanted the coffee, but he also hoped that a trip to the village might result in him running into Michael again, though hopefully in a less literal way.  
“Sure, but you’ll have to wait a bit. It doesn’t open till ten.”

They sat together until then, just talking. They were already really comfortable with each other, something Jeremy didn’t have with, well, anyone, except for Michael, but that felt somehow different, although if you asked him he wouldn’t be able to explain why.  
Finally, at precisely 9:51 AM, Jeremy was sent out into the world armed with a shopping bag, a ten dollar bill, and instructions to not wander into the woods because “there’s a slight possibility that there are bears, and maybe wolves, and someone thought they saw a rabid badger at some point but we really aren’t sure so just stay by the road please.”  
He made it down to the village without being attacked by anything except some alarmingly large and vicious mosquitoes. He went into the grocery store, bought some coffee, then loitered around outside, waiting for who knew what. Well, Jeremy knew what. He was waiting for Michael. Which was ridiculous. No teen in their right mind was up and about at ten in the mor-

“HEY JEREMY!”

Jeremy was pretty sure his heart stopped beating, and he leapt about a foot into the air, dropping the shopping bag in the chaos. The yeller was Red Stripe Guy, who’s name Jeremy now knew was Rich, thanks to his conversation with Michael.

“Sorry for startling you, man.” Rich said, picking up the coffee bag and offering it back to Jeremy, who accepted it, silently, as he was still trying to convince his heart that, really, beating that fast is not healthy and you should probably stop. Rich, undeterred, kept talking.

“So I see you’ve met Michael.” Rich prompted, a small smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. Why did everyone smirk when they talked to Jeremy about Michael? He was really starting to get sick of it.

“Yes, I did.” Jeremy said coolly, trying to end the conversation as quickly as possible.

“Well, did you guys get along? Cause he’s on the bench over there_”

“Seriously!?” Jeremy immediately stood up straighter, running a hand through his hair, running a hand through his hair and looking over at the bench, which was empty. He slowly turned his face toward Rich, who was smirking again.

“Called it.”

Jeremy turned red.

“Am I that obvious?” he asked meekly, pretty sure he already knew the answer.

Rich clapped him sympathetically on the shoulder. “Dude, it’s painful. But I’m sure you’ll be fine. And if you actually want to talk to Michael, he’s at the 7/11 and I promise I’m not messing with you this time.”

Jeremy perked up immediately.

“Really? Thanks Rich!” 

He took off running in the direction of the corner store, leaving Rich laughing and shaking his head behind him.

***

Michael wasn’t outside the 7/11, a fact that caused Jeremy a great deal of stress, his anxious mind running through millions of possibilities, ranging from the ridiculous to the plausible to the absolutely ridiculous.  
What if Rich was lying to him? Again? What if Michael had seen him coming and run off to avoid him? What if he’d been abducted by aliens? Or murdered by the Mafia? Or- Michael walked out of the building, holding a Slushie. (A detail Jeremy failed to notice because he was too busy flipping out: The Slushie was blue, rather than Michael's signature rainbow, because Jeremy had insisted it was the best kind)  
Jeremy, who had up until that point been standing in a frozen, deer-in-the-headlights panic in front of the door, suddenly sprinted away as fast as his spindly giraffe legs would carry him, as the realization of how profoundly creepy he was being hit him full force. Rich watched the distant scene with amusement, until the scene suddenly became less distant and almost crashed straight into him.

 

“Jeremy, what are you doing?”

“I can’t do it.”

“Can’t do what?”

“Talk to him!” Jeremy exclaimed, exasperated. “I’ll mess up, I’ll be weird or awkward or creepy, maybe all three, and he’ll hate me and I’ll have to move to Iceland and change my name-”

“Whoa, whoa, slow down.” Rich interrupted, grabbing Jeremy’s shoulders in an effort to ground him to reality. “He’s not going to hate you. Think you’re weird? Maybe. Think you’re absolutely fucking insane? If you keep pulling shit like that,” he gestured vaguely in the direction of the 7/11, “definitely. But he’s not going to hate you.”

“How do you know?!” Jeremy demanded, now sounding simply stressed, instead of terrified.

“Because he’s hella gay for you, dude.” Rich answered, rolling his eyes like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Jeremy felt his face go hot, and he tried to stammer out a response. But before he could, Rich spun him around, so he was suddenly almost nose to nose with Michael. Jeremy let out an extremely undignified squeak and leapt backwards, half expecting to knock into Rich, but he had disappeared in the chaos. Great. Jeremy finally mustered up the courage to actually look at Michael. Luckily, he seemed amused by the situation, rather than freaked out. Which was good, but it kind of disproved Rich’s theory because every gay part of Jeremy was in total panic mode, and he was sure he was showing it.

“Oh, hi Michael.” Jeremy’s attempt to sound casual failed miserably, given that his voice was about an octave higher than usual. He stumbled awkwardly backward for two steps so that he was at a more respectable distance from Michael, leaning against the wall of the store in what he hoped was a cool, suave pose. (Author’s note: It really wasn’t) Michael smiled at him, and god, that smile. It made Jeremy feel like he was going to melt into a puddle on the ground. 

“Hey Jeremy. Sorry for running out on you yesterday, strict curfew.” Michael rolled his eyes and ran a hand through his hair, avoiding Jeremy’s gaze. He seemed genuinely apologetic, but Jeremy still had the weird feeling that he was hiding something. He shook it off, deciding he was being ridiculous. 

“It’s fine dude, no need to apologize.” He gave Michael what he hoped was a reassuring smile, but with his luck and seemingly non existent control of his own body, that could have gone very wrong. Michael, thankfully, smiled back. 

“So…” Michael said slowly, after letting the silence sit for a few seconds, “what brings you here at this ungodly hour?”

Jeremy laughed. “For someone already awake and drinking a Slushie, you don’t seem like a morning person.” He lifted the grocery bag. “I came down to buy coffee.”

“I’m really not, but I wanted to find you again.” Michael paused, stumbling over his own tongue for a few seconds. “I mean, to apologize. For, uh, disappearing and stuff.” (Author’s note: Michael’s exact thoughts at that moment were: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAWHYAREYOULIKETHISWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA)

“Oh, well, a-apology accepted.” (Author’s note: Later that night, a high pitch screech would come from his room, summoning a concerned Christine, who Jeremy would then grab by the shoulders and shake while screaming APOLOGY ACCEPTED?, before collapsing face down on his bed and not moving until the next morning. An ironic detail to dwell on, given all that had happened that evening.)

Michael looked relieved and took a sip of his Slushie, prompting a remark from Jeremy. 

“Dude, how are you drinking that so early?”

“Yeah, like your bean water is any more morning appropriate,” Michael scoffed.

This lead to half an hour of joking banter, which Rich was watching from across the street, rendered invisible by the power of heart eyes. The conversation culminated in Jeremy snapping, “That’s it, you’re trying coffee”, grabbing Michael’s non-Slushie-holding hand, and starting to drag him towards the hill. Michael was surprised, but didn’t object, activating his heelies and letting himself be dragged along until they reached the actual slope, where he released Jeremy’s hand and started walking himself. The pair kept talking the whole way up, despite neither of them being particularly in shape, and both being out of breath. They made it inside, said a quick hello to Christine, who was smirking at them from the living room couch, and went into the kitchen, where Jeremy spent an entire eight minutes trying to figure out the coffee maker, which didn’t seem to have been used in at least a year. Once all was completed, Jeremy presented a mug to Michael with a flourish. Michael took a sip, and immediately spat it back into the mug.

“This is fucking disgusting.”

“Language!”  
“Sorry Christine!”

“It can’t be that bad.” Jeremy eyed the liquid suspiciously, trying to gage where he’d gone wrong.

“You try it!” Michael exclaimed, shoving the mug towards Jeremy

“Dude, you spit in that!” Jeremy took a step back, like the coffee was going to leap out of the mug and attack him, which it would if Michael kept shaking it like that. 

“If anything, it’ll improve the taste.” Michael grumbled, dumping the contents of his mug down the drain. Jeremy poured himself a cup and took a tentative sip. 

“This is, god, this is awful. I’m so sorry for subjecting you to this.”

Jeremy had never made coffee before then, and based on these results, he never should again. 

“I’ll make it up to you.” Jeremy said, a sudden idea popping into his head. “I’m teaching you to play video games.” Jeremy grabbed Michael’s hand and led him through the living room, towards his bedroom. 

“Don’t mess up the sheets.” Christine said, without looking up from her book. 

“We won’t.” Jeremy responded, figuring it was just a quirky Christine thing, until:

“And use protection, safety is import-”

Jeremy shoved Michael into his room, quickly stepping in behind him and slamming the door shut, cutting off Christine’s sentence, and muffling the sound of her laughter. Both boys were blushing furiously and were entirely unsure how to deal with the situation. Jeremy was finally the one to break the silence, saying : “SO!” way too loudly, while he rifled around in his bag in search of something.

“This is a Gameboy.” he explained, showing Michael the small console.

“Normally I’d show you a game we could both play at the same time, but we’d need a whole system, and those aren’t exactly portable and I didn’t think I’d have anyone to play with so…”

He explained what each button did and played a round to show Michael what to do. Michael was a fast learner and by the third round he played, he’d beaten Jeremy’s high score. Jeremy stared at him, mouth agape.

“How did you…”

“Beginner’s luck?” Michael suggested sheepishly.

“Maybe...:” ‘Or maybe you’re literally the perfect person’ he thought, but didn’t dare say it out loud.

They played and talked for a couple hours, until Michael said he had to leave.

“Seriously? It’s like 1:30!” 

“Yeah, I know it’s stupid but it’s not like I can do anything about it.” Michael rolled his eyes, seeming just as frustrated with the situation as Jeremy, which was a comfort of sorts. 

“Well, at least let me walk you back.”

Michael looked uncomfortable, so Jeremy backed off.

“Okay, some other day then. See you tomorrow?”

Michael lit up, “Definitely! Bye Jeremy.”

“Bye Michael.” Jeremy stayed seated and watched him walk out. Once he was gone, Jeremy flopped back on his bed and dug the heels of his hands into his eyes. He stayed in that position, lamenting his fate, for almost twenty minutes, which was probably good, because if he hadn’t, he would have seen Michael, after waving goodbye to Christine, go out the back door, down the stairs, and into the lake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *screaming* I really hecking hate this chapter aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah but I hope you enjoyed it any way. The next chapter will be better I swear on my life, and probably faster now that I have a week off from the pool before school and such.


	4. Trenchcoat guy is fucking insane... Or is he?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Squip gets introduced, plus Jeremy grappling with Gay Thoughts™

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay an update! And it took less than a month! *out of tune kazoo* Hope you enjoy! (It's pretty short but it's here and it actually advances the plot so that's good)

Once Jeremy was finally done feeling sorry for himself, he decided to find Rich, because since this entire crush (Author’s Note: Oh look, he finally admits it) situation was entirely his fault, the least he could do was help Jeremy figure out what to do about it. He marched out the door without saying goodbye, got about three feet away from the door, then felt bad and came back to say bye and tell her where he was going. After making his way down the mountain faster than he ever had previously, (he was going to have some serious leg muscles by the end of the summer) he made his way immediately to the grocery store, figuring that it was a good place as any to start looking. Sure enough, there he was, crouching behind a wall and spying on a man Jeremy had never seen before. Jeremy decided this was the perfect time to get back at Rich for surprising him that morning, and sidled up behind him to tap him on the shoulder. To his disappointment, Rich didn’t even jump.

“Hi Jeremy.”

Jeremy sighed. “Hey Rich. I was hoping to talk to you about-” he was interrupted by Rich grabbing the collar of his shirt and yanking him to the ground.

“Keep it down!” he whispered harshly “I’m observing.” 

“Seems like stalking to me.” Jeremy grumbled, swatting away Rich’s arm and adjusting his position on the floor so he was more comfortable.

“Maybe so, but this guy is so worth it.”

Jeremy had only given the person Rich was “observing” a cursory glance when he’d first arrived, so he took some time to check him out more fully. He appeared to be in his mid to late thirties, and was wearing a long black trench coat. He also bore an unnerving resemblance to Keanu Reeves.

“Dare I ask why?”

Rich turned his body so he was facing Jeremy, clearly preparing to give a lengthy speech. 

“He’s like, the village crazy person. He doesn’t live here, but he comes up every summer, looking for, get this, mermaids.” Rich paused for a second to let that sink in. “No one knows his real name, he just gets everyone to call him Squip.” 

“Squip?!” 

Rich shushed him, and Jeremy covered his mouth to muffle his laughter. 

“Yeah. He thinks it sounds cool.” Rich rolled his eyes. “But he’s totally convinced there are mermaids in the lake. Even tries catching them. You see that thing by his feet?”

Rich pointed at Squip’s feet, at a contraption that looked eerily similar to a potato gun Jeremy had built for a grade six science fair. 

“That’s his net gun. He’s got a whole boat totally decked out with shit like that, but he carries that one everywhere, just in case.”

Jeremy scoffed. “There’s no way. You’re messing with me again, aren’t you.”

Rich shook his head emphatically. “Dude, I am dead serious. Go talk to him if you don’t believe me.”

“I will.” Jeremy stood up and rolled his eyes. He’d made it through three of the seven steps it took to close the distance to the bench when doubt and anxiety started to creep in, but by then it was too late to back out. Squip was writing in a notebook and hadn’t even noticed Jeremy’s approach, which made the whole situation about a million times as awkward.

“Excuse me, do you mind telling me what that is?” Jeremy asked, pointing at the supposed net gun. 

“It’s a net gun. For catching mermaids in the lake.” Squip said without looking up from his notebook, in the exhausted tone of a man who’d been asked this question by far too many curious kids and was getting really tired of answering it. 

‘No fucking way.’ Jeremy thought. This guy actually believed there were mermaids. In a lake. In Vermont. 

“How do you know there are mermaids?”

Squip looked up from his notebook, straight at Jeremy. His eyes were a weird turquoise-blue, and almost seemed like they were glowing. It was unsettling.

“Some things have happened here. Things that can’t be explained. The weather patterns are different from the surrounding areas, and there are these.” Squip turned the notebook towards Jeremy, flipping through the pages, showing Jeremy what seemed like hundreds of grainy black and white photographs, all marked up with notes about the “suspicious” shadows under the surface.  
Jeremy knew it wasn't a good idea to feed this guy's fantasy, but he was actually kind of curious. And this guy had a weird kind of charisma, even if he was batshit crazy. 

“So if you do capture one, what do you plan on doing with it?"

"Killing it, obviously." Squip said immediately, not even having to think about it.

"What?!" That wasn't what Jeremy had expected. If he had dedicated his life to trying to catch something, he'd want to at least study it.

"Well, after putting it on display for a while, proving that I was right.” A cold smile spread across Squip’s face. “But morally, I have to kill it. They eat people, lure them into the water and kill them. It's an eye for an eye, really."

Jeremy looked over his shoulder at Rich who rolled his eyes and twirled a finger around temple, the universal sign for "crazy". Jeremy, still morbidly curious, turned back to Squip. 

"So have they killed anyone here?" 

"Oh yes. That's how I know for sure there are some here. Be careful about going down to the lake near sunset. That’s when they get hungry.”

"Okayyyyyyyyy, I'll keep that in mind. But it's almost time for me to get home so..." Squip nodded and gave him a dismissive wave, going back to his notebook. \Jeremy quickly made his way back over to Rich, who was strangely excited. 

"Totally insane, right?"

"Yeah..." But a strange sense of unease had settled over Jeremy, which he knew was stupid. He shook it off, glad that he'd never have to talk to the Squip again. (Author’s note: AHAHAHAHAHAHA YEAH RIGHT)

***

Rich took Jeremy out for a Slushie as an apology for that morning. Jeremy got the Michael-recommended rainbow one, and ranted to Rich for a few minutes about “Stupid Michael and his damn smile and great sense of humour and pretty eyes I hate him.” To his credit, Rich listened intently the whole time, without interruption. Once Jeremy stopped talking though, Rich went straight into mocking mode.

“Someone’s got a cruuuuuuush!”

Jeremy blushed and stuttered for a few seconds, but it wasn’t like he could deny it.

“Fine, maybe I do, but what do I do about it?”

“Tell him!”

Jeremy blanched. “What?! No, I can’t do that!”

Rich sighed, fighting back the urge to scream and bang his head on a nearby wall. He had been expecting this, after all he’d been exactly the same while crushing on Jake.

“I’m not even going to ask for your reasons, because they’re all bullshit. So what if he doesn’t feel the same? You’ve got one life, may as well fucking live it. So go out, get the boy. And if he says no, which he won’t, you move on, and still have an awesome friendship together.”

Jeremy thought it over for a few seconds, then sat up straighter, seeming to gain confidence. 

“Okay! I’ll tell him!”

“ATTABOY! Go get your gay!” Rich exclaimed, raising his hand for a high five. Jeremy swatted at it, barely making contact with Rich’s palm. Well, it could have been worse. Jeremy stood up, abandoning the Slushie and starting the long trek home, forgetting in his sudden boost of confidence that he didn’t actually have any way to contact Michael.   
By the time he’d made it home, all the confidence he’d acquired from Rich was gone, and Rich had finished both their Slushies, although Jeremy didn’t know about that. Jeremy entered the house to find that Christine had already made supper, tofu stir fry with peanut sauce, because she couldn’t bring herself to eat meat after seeing the deer that morning.  
They made polite conversation while they ate, Jeremy ignoring the knowing looks she gave him whenever Michael was brought up.   
After they finished dinner and the dishes, Jeremy decided to go down to the dock to watch the sunset. He only remembered Squip’s crazy warnings once he reached the dock, but they really didn’t worry him all that much. I mean, mermaids? How insane do you have to be to believe that? (Author’s note: Oh, my sweet summer child.)   
The sunset was, as most sunsets over water in the middle of nowhere tend to be, absolutely breathtaking. Once Jeremy was done watching, he got up to leave, but he felt the sudden urge to investigate the boathouse, which he’d been meaning to do since his first day here anyway.  
He would have found this sudden need to investigate strange had it not been so strong that he was already on his way to check it out. Jeremy opened the door and flicked on the lights.   
Nothing spectacular, two lengths of dock with a square of water leading out into the lake between them, and a lot of cardboard boxes. He scanned their labels; Tools, Camping Stuff, Boating Equipment, Gardening Stuff- wait. Christine didn’t own a boat, and he’d seen the unkempt collection of weeds and wildflowers that Christine called a garden, and it clearly hadn’t seen the use of tools in years.   
Jeremy walked over to the box labelled “Boating Equipment” and opened it, finding that rather than what was advertised on the label, it contained… Clothes? What the hell? They looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn’t quite place them. Now thoroughly disturbed, he opened the “Gardening Stuff ” box, finding that it also contained clothes, which were even more familiar than the last ones.   
He dug through the box for a few seconds, before suddenly dropping it in shock. Nestled at the bottom of the box was a bright red sweater, one that he’d recognize anywhere. What the fuck was Michael’s sweater doing in a box in Christine’s boathouse? Jeremy briefly entertained the possibility that Christine had murdered him, but that seemed about as likely as Santa Claus murdering someone, so he dismissed that theory quickly. Unbeknownst to Jeremy, the answer to all his questions had just surfaced behind him. Unbeknownst that is, until the answer gasped loudly, causing Jeremy to whip around in surprise.

“Jeremy?!”  
“MICHAEL?!” 

Neither boy said anything for a few seconds, simply staring at each other. Finally, Jeremy’s legs gave up on keeping him standing, and he dropped to his knees. Figuring that since he was now almost level with Michael he may as well talk, he asked a question : “Why are you in the wat-” He didn’t get to finish because Michael chose that moment to rear out of the water, seize Jeremy by the cheeks, kiss him, and pull him into the lake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, that happened. I promise, promise, swear on my life that the next chapter won't take as long. (It's already half written so yay!) Also I finally have the plot completely worked out, double yay! But boy oh boy are y'all gonna HATE me for this. (Did anyone notice that the question marks are gone from the angst tag? No? Well, they are.)


	5. what the fuck What The Fuck WHAT THE FUCK

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *heelys in almost a year late with bubble tea* 'sup.
> 
> Look at it! It's here! 
> 
> I make no promises about when the next chapter will be up, but I finally updated and I'm happy with that.

Jeremy was having a lot of difficulty with this situation, even before the added befuddlement of the kiss.   
Then he landed in the lake, and everything became a lot clearer. Cold water has a way of doing that. In the second or so before panic set in, a few facts clicked into place:

1\. Mermaids were real  
2\. Michael was a mermaid  
3\. If mermaids were real, then Squip was right  
4\. If Squip was right about that, then he was probably right about other things too, such as mermaid behaviour  
5\. Squip had said mermaids ate people  
6\. Michael had fangs

That's when panic set in.

Jeremy's eyes, which had ended up closed in all the chaos, snapped open and he let out a scream, and, because he was an idiot, all of his air. He fought against Michael, who had moved his hands from Jeremy's cheeks to his wrists, but he was a lot stronger (Only because they were in his home turf, Jeremy would later claim) and Jeremy couldn't get free.  
He stopped struggling for a second, and had one of the most alarming thoughts a person can have: “Why aren't I dead?”  
A few seconds later, he realized he was breathing. Underwater. What. The. FUCK. Jeremy, for the first time since the dock, focused on Michael's face. He wasn't wearing his glasses, and his eyes were weirdly reflective, like a cat’s. And there were, of course, the fangs Jeremy had noticed earlier. And the giant scaly fish tail, but Jeremy decided not to focus on that just yet, for the sake of preserving his sanity. 

Michael seemed remarkably calm about the whole situation (he was anything but) which Jeremy found almost insulting.

“Dude, what the hell?”

Perhaps not the most intelligent question, but it encompassed Jeremy's overall feelings towards the situation better than any speech could have.

“Uh.” Michael wasn't really sure how to respond. How do you explain to your crush that you're a supposedly mythological creature and that almost everything they know about you is a lie?

“A bit more specific?” he asked meekly, finally coming to the conclusion that it would be better to go piece by piece than trying to explain the mess that was his life all in one go.

“Are you going to eat me?”

“What?!” Michael hadn't been expecting that. “I- what? No, I'm not going to eat you.”

Jeremy looked relieved, and he relaxed a little in Michael's grip.

“Two: How am I breathing?”

Michael had been expecting this one, or, more accurately, dreading it. He took a deep breath.

“You know how I, uh, kissed you?”

Jeremy went red at the reminder, which was fine, totally fine, not wreaking havoc on Michael's mental stability at all.

“There was some kind of magic exchange. I'm not sure how it works exactly, (He really didn't know. He'd had Jake explain how to do it, just in case, but he'd mentioned kissing and Michael had freaked out and refused to continue the conversation) but basically you get mermaid powers minus the tail for a bit. So that's why you can see and breathe and stuff.”

“So he was right.” Jeremy said pensively.

“So who was right?”

“The crazy guy.” Jeremy made a vague gesture towards land. “Squid or something. He told me mermaids were real, and I guess he was right. I mean, he also told me they eat people, so he could just be crazy and a really, really lucky guesser…”

“Squip’s here already?!” Michael exclaimed. He usually only came later in the summer, this couldn't be good. “I've gotta tell the others.”

“Others?”

Shit. Too late to back out of that one now. Michael let go if Jeremy's wrists and picked at the scales on his stomach, a nervous tic. “Uh, yeah. There are five of us down here, me, Brooke, Chloe, Jenna and Jake.”

Those last two names were familiar to Jeremy, although it took him a second to place them. Jake. Rich's boyfriend, Jake. Jenna. Gossip girl, Jenna. Jeremy's eyes widened.

“Wait, they're…” he trailed off, gesturing uncertainly at Michael's tail.

“Well…” Michael decided he was screwed enough as it was, he may as well go all in, “not exactly. You'll see.”

***

It takes them 10 minutes to reach the common area, despite it being barely 40 yards away. Partially because Jeremy kept asking questions, and partially because he wasn't that great a swimmer ( “I'm a twig Michael! I have no surface area!) and Michael had to drag him most of the way.

Finally, they reached a collection of rocks gathered on the lake bed. Jeremy was about to make a comment about it when a blood curdling screech tore through the water and something crashed into Jeremy's chest. 

The air flew out of his lungs as he was pinned to the rocky ground by what he could only assume was a demon. It was humanoid, but had glowing solid green eyes and a mouth full of needle sharp teeth that made Michael's fangs look like marshmallows by comparison. He could also feel sharp fingernails digging into his skin, and had fully accepted that this was how he was going to die when he heard Michael yelling.

“Chloe! Calm down, he's with me.”

Chloe? This ravenous hellbeast was named CHLOE?

Satan - Chloe - sneered at Jeremy and climbed off of his chest, and he watched, shell-shocked, as the glow faded from her eyes, the teeth and claws retracted, and her face became that of a slightly unnaturally pretty teenager, still sneering.

“What the hell are you playing at, Mikey? Do you want us all dead?”

Michael raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. “I'll explain when everyone gets here, but for now you'll just have to trust me.”

Chloe raised her eyebrows in an expression of blatant skepticism.

Michael scrambled for a way to convince Chloe not to tear Jeremy's throat open. 

“He's the one I told you guys about, Jeremy!”

Chloe's expression shifted into a mischievous grin, and Michael was having trouble deciding if this was actually better than her murdering someone.

“Oh, the c-”

“FRIEND!” Michael said quickly. “He's my friend. So please don't kill him?”

Chloe rolled her eyes. “Fine. But you'd better have a damn good reason for bringing him here.”

Michael let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”

Chloe swam a little ways away without answering.

Jeremy was still on the ground, trying to wrap his mind around what had just happened. 

“She seems… nice?” He tried, hesitantly.

Michael sighed again and offered Jeremy a hand up.

“She's not that bad, just protective. And she has good reason to be. I promise she'll warm up to you eventually.”

Jeremy wasn’t so sure, but he decided to take Michael’s word for it. He was about to ask another question when an ear splitting screech rippled through the water, nearly causing an already jumpy Jeremy to leap straight out of the water. This was made unfair by the fact that Michael seemed entirely unphased by it.

“WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!?” 

“Chloe,” he said, like that answered everything.

“Yeah, I figured that out, but why?!” 

“She’s calling the others.” Michael said grimly. 

This was going to be fun.


End file.
